Heart and Soul: Seeking justice from Opus Dei

The Documentary Podcast

BBC

Society & Culture, Documentary, Personal Journals

4.3 • 2.6K Ratings

🗓️ 25 October 2024

⏱️ 27 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Opus Dei is a controversial Catholic organisation with schools and conference centres across the globe. Close links to the Vatican mean members are highly influential within the Catholic church. Opus Dei is Latin for “Work of God” and their aim is to help people to achieve holiness through their everyday work. The vast majority of members are lay people. Within Opus Dei, “assistant numeraries” are women responsible for cooking and cleaning in Opus Dei centres. They tend to come from poor or working-class backgrounds often recruited through hospitality schools. Former assistant numeraries say they were overworked, unpaid, isolated from their families and emotionally and spiritually abused. Many women are now speaking up and seeking justice. Journalist Antonia Cundy speaks to survivors in Latin America about their experiences.

Transcript

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0:00.0	In 1928, a young Spanish priest called Jose Maria Escriva started a new group within the Catholic Church. He wanted to show ordinary Christians
0:15.6	how to lead a holy life, specifically by attending to their professional work with transcendent
0:20.7	significance. He called the group Opus Day, work of God.
0:26.5	Escruver was canonised in 2002 and today Opus Day has 95,000 members worldwide. The group has been dogged by controversies,
0:35.0	it's been accused of secrecy, political influence, and of controlling its members.
0:39.0	You might have watched the Da Vinci Code, in which Opus Day is cast, sensationalized, as a Masonic
0:45.2	power-grabbing cabal.
0:47.2	But now, former members have brought other allegations to light.
0:50.9	Two years ago, federal prosecutors in Argentina started an investigation into 44
0:55.4	women's claims of labor exploitation and human trafficking against Opus Day.
0:58.8	And in September this year, prosecutors took the first step towards bringing criminal proceedings,
1:04.8	formally requesting that a judge summoned several senior leaders of Opus Day in the region to testify.
1:09.6	You're listening to the documentary from the BBC World Service.
1:15.0	I'm Antonia Kundi and I'm a special investigations reporter at the Financial Times.
1:20.0	I've spent the past year uncovering former members allegations of exploitation and psychological abuse against Opus Day,
1:26.0	and on this week's heart and soul you're going to hear some of their claims.
1:30.0	The case in Argentina created headlines around the world and led new people from other countries to come forward with claims against Soapest Day.
1:37.0	They've grouped together in online forums where they share stories about the organization that was supposed to bring them closer to God, but instead, they
1:44.4	say exploited them and their faith.
1:47.4	Rakel is one of those individuals.
1:50.1	She lives in Guatemala and joined Opus Day when she was 17 years old.
1:54.0	Today, she's 36 and is no longer a member of the group.
	...

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